IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN...AND AUSTRALIAN MEDIA DOES A RUNNER!

I simply cannot believe its that time again. Seems like only weeks ago when I was doing my yearly Xmas blurb on this website. I always miss being at home in Ireland at this time of the year. Not just because of family, but also because of the media.

I grew up with the BBC, RTE and ITV. At Christmas all those timeless Christmas movies would come on. The BBC was briliant at Christmas (don't know if they still are!)- especially if you were a child. Here in Australia, things are very different indeed.

You see, television's ratings soar at this time of year in the UK. It's cold - people are indoors, and the TV stations make an effort to disseminate a Christmnas "feel" to their audiences. Not so here! As you know we are in Summertime, and everyone is outdoors at Xmas. Also, we are entering what we call the "silly season". Absolutely NOTHING gets done between late December and February in Australia. And that applies to the media also. The Australian media works on an American system - the ratings system. Because of low viewership in the Summertime, the ratings system finishes. Result: The worst quality TV of the year.

There's a guy here called Ray Martin. He is, well, the "Terry Wogan" of Australia. He does "Carols by Candlelight" a three hour "live" TV show which gets aired on The Nine Network. It is broadcast outside on a hot sweltering Xmas Eve, to an audience of thousands in a Melbourne Park, and to millions around Australia on TV. Choirs sing, kids get up and recite Christmas messages and the whole affair is shall we say, 'atmospheric". Other than this event, Australian TV is all but baron of "the Christmas feel". And I think it's kinda sad - especially for the kids. Instead we have poor quality programming and bland TV commercials for the January sales. I guess we shouldn't complain - we have the great weather and it is our summer, but I miss the ol' BBC at Xmas time. Call me sentimental!

The only other big event around Xmas time are the fireworks on New Year's Eve, with fireworks exploding over the Sydney Harbour Bridge at midnight. That gets televised "live", and is quite something to behold.

So it's the end of 2004 and Irishpirates.com is in it's third year. Paul Buckle owns this website - I merely look after it for him. He actually started a website with lots of old jingles from the pirate stations of the eighties about 6 years ago. I asked him if I could take over and add more audio and a regular commentary, and he graciously let me do that. Thanks Paul and Happy Xmas to you and your family!

A personal message from me...and a little story!
(This might bore you to death, but just in case it doesn't, I'll do it anyway!)

And talking about the media, I am truly getting away from it after Xmas day. I am driving to a remote peninsula on the Australian Victorian coast, then hopping onto a small fishing boat. The place is accessible only by boat. It's called the "Barrier" and the last time I was there two years ago, a very dangerous "brown" snake tried to get into the house!

The temperatures reach into the 40's. A friend of mine has a house there. There's no toilet to speak of, no electricity or running water. Just a lake on one side of the peninsula, and the sea on the other. It is very beautiful, and very raw. The building we're in is very old by Australian standards - late 1800's. This peninsula is deserted most of the year round. Friends of mine have family summer houses there. The reason it is mostly deserted is because, with rising sea-levels, the peninsula will eventually be submerged by water - at a guess - in about 40 years time. We will be spending New Years Eve on this remote landscape with about 15 other young (er) people. No need for media here. Just lots of folks cooking fish over open fires, telling stories, and enjoying the "odd" drink (wink wink, nod nod!). We have to actually catch fish to eat! I am a keen home-brewer, so will bring some of my best home-brewed beer for the week we're down there. I can't wait. At the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve, there will be no fireworks for us. We'll be running around like lunatics in one of the most remote peninsulas in the southern hemisphere! Possibly jumping into the lake to cool off!

It will be fantastic and therapeutic to get away from my network, the radio, TV and all the "stuff" that surrounds our lives circa the new millennium.

Australia can be quite a dangerous place. The "brown" snake is one of the most deadly of all, and one tried to get into our house the last time I was down there. Now the next bit is kinda raw to explain. We had to pee into the bush where the snake was, to ward him off. The snakes don't like that! It's like, well, a territorial ownership thing. Can you imagine how nervous I was going to the toilet at all????? A brown snake's bite is so venimous, that it can kill you if you don't get help quickly. We were in the middle of nowhere! That photo on your left is when myself and Benny caught the fish on the first day. I'm the one on the right by the way. We later caught much larger fish (really! They were THIS LARGE!!!) but the batteries on the digital camera ran out and we had no electricity. (Yeah Henry, likely story!). No really! We also went in search for muscles and oysters (boy the oysters were huge!) to be found in the lake. Ben also forced me to ride on a surf board dragged by the motorised boat across the lake! It nearly killed me.

THINKING ABOUT THE YEAR THAT WAS...

When you have seven days in a remote place, with no media around you, you get to think a little more than usual. You have all the time in the world, the natural habitat (albeit sometimes dangerous!) and hot, hot weather. Your only requirement is water and food. We can get these things from the mainland, but its much more fun fighting nature for them, and hell, it's easier most of the time, in terms of travelling. Water is a huge problem in Australia in the sense that we don't have enough of it. When we're on the barrier, we are constantly fighting the dwindling supplies. Simple activities like washing dishes is a big deal. As for washing ourselves, it's a matter of jumping in the lake! Serously! But water is not the only thing on our minds.

We talk of the state of the world, not in a hippy kind of way, but much more seriously. Things look so much clearer from afar. The people we stay with are in their twenties and thirties. I am in my early fourties. I find it most gratifying that younger people actually give a shit about whats going on in the world. And they do. Let's hope they don't go into a comfortable numbness when they start buying houses and having babies.

I will think about the year that has passed. Ireland's Phantom FM achieved it's long-awaited application approval for a broadcasting licence for Dublin. I am so pleased for them. They have worked so hard for it, and I am sooo greatful to have been allowed to do spots on their radio shows.

Gary Hamill (AKA Sean McCarthy, ex of irelandlivetelevision.tv) has moved back to New York. We wish him the very best in all his endeavours there. Bob Gallico is moving home to the USA after many decades living in Ireland. Bob was a great mentor to me as a young newsreader on Nova twenty years ago. Bob, lets keep in touch! The world is now a small place!

I'll be thinking about the direction our world is going in, with elections in the US and Australia in 2004 resulting in a continuous and dangerous swing to the right end of politics. I will lament and pray that the all-ignored environment survives this global trend towards greed and domination.

2004 has been a real rocker for technology. The advancement of modern communication devices - camera phones - digital radio - blogs - and numerous other ways of communicating. This can never be wrong - as long as people keep communicating!

In July 2004 a veteran broadcaster and possibly one of the most skilled communicators I have ever met, died from throat cancer. Tony Allan was one crazy man. I'll be thinking about Tony, and what mischief he is up to now that the skies the limit!

And as I sit on the beach in the middle of nowhere, chances are I'll be thinking of where I'm getting my next meal. 'cos sometimes those fucking fish refuse to bite!

Happy Christmas everyone!

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